Antidepressants, anybody use them?

JanJan63

I'm having such a hard time dealing with my anger and depression about cancer I'm thinking about asking my doctor for some. I'm sure someone here has used them or is on them. Does it help at all? Are there better ones specific to what we're going through as in situational depression, not chemical imbalance depression?

 

Akroger

Antidepressants for my mom

My mom's been taking antidepressants for years, and currently she's on lorazepam, she was taking citalopram (Celexa) for a while too. She waa extremely depressed and would often say she wanted to die last year, and taking the antidepressants have helped a lot. Don't get me wrong, she's still depressed, but I think now that this is more from how awful the chemotherapy she's on makes her feel, rather than straight emotional despair like she had before.

I know I'm not a patient, but I started a lower dose of Citalopram late last year myself, and it's really helped me a lot too. I think mine is more situational than chemical imbalance. I also had anxiety problems though, and if that's not part of what you're feeling you might need something different.

Annabelle41415

Ativan

Was on Ativan for a couple years.  Never really took them regularly the whole way through, but at first because of the depression.  After awhile it was only during appointment time and then scan time at both times it was so stressful.  Ask and don't be afraid.  This is the time that anyone deserves to get some help.  Just make sure you don't use more than you should.  Hope you find something that will work for you and don't feel bad about asking for them either.

Kim

PhillieG

Yup!

I take them as well as an anti-anxiety one. If there's one thing that can make a person depressed and/or anxious it's cancer 

My feeling has been that I've had enough stuff to go through that's been basically out of my control. I didn't want to have to struggle with something else if I could have some control over it. I've found that it can take the edge off things. Attitude has played a huge role in my case. I believe having a good attitude can help people. It took me 1-2 different ones before I found the right med for me.

janderson1964

I have been taking Ativan for

I have been taking Ativan for my anxiety when needed and to help me sleep at night. It also helps my stomach during chemo and other times when my stomach gets upset. I try not to take it during the day because it makes me very sleepy. I never really had a problem with depression until this year after my third recurrence but it is still just shot bouts of depression. I thought about asking for anti depressants but i am holding off on asking for another drug. I hate being dependant on drugs for different ailments.

JanJan63

janderson1964 said:

I have been taking Ativan for

I have been taking Ativan for my anxiety when needed and to help me sleep at night. It also helps my stomach during chemo and other times when my stomach gets upset. I try not to take it during the day because it makes me very sleepy. I never really had a problem with depression until this year after my third recurrence but it is still just shot bouts of depression. I thought about asking for anti depressants but i am holding off on asking for another drug. I hate being dependant on drugs for different ailments.

Thanks for the support

Thanks for the support everyone. I wasn't sure if it's something that we could even take while on chemo or what. I figured it would be fine but I'd rather ask you who have gone through this than my useless onc. Oddly, my cold sensitivity is worse now six days after the chemo than it was the first few days. And this time I'm getting the bone and joint pain again and can hardly sleep. And yet another blood clot, that's six now. I remember when I knew nothing about chemo and thought the only thing people went through was nausea and hair loss. 

Jan

Helen321

I used the antianxiety

I used the antianxiety Ativan, it worked WONDERS.  It is also an antinausea so it doubles as helpful for chemo treatments.  I had to ween off of it though.  That's the harder part.  Went through a bit of withdrawal but I'm fine now.

JanJan63

Helen321 said:

I used the antianxiety

I used the antianxiety Ativan, it worked WONDERS.  It is also an antinausea so it doubles as helpful for chemo treatments.  I had to ween off of it though.  That's the harder part.  Went through a bit of withdrawal but I'm fine now.

Can you take Ativan every

Can you take Ativan every day? I know people who take it for when they have scary stuff happening but not all the time.  And having less nausea would be wonderful.

Helen, you have the cutest avatar picture!

Jan

Helen321

JanJan63 said:

Can you take Ativan every

Can you take Ativan every day? I know people who take it for when they have scary stuff happening but not all the time.  And having less nausea would be wonderful.

Helen, you have the cutest avatar picture!

Jan

Hi Jan, yes you can take it

Hi Jan, yes you can take it every day when necessary. I took it only on chemo days or around scans, just before surgery. It really helped tremendously.  I was very aware of addiction possibilities when taking them and pain killers so I was super conscious to stop them after my surgery recovery.

 

Thanks. I put that picture up for laughs. My daughter only feeds my grandbaby natural cookies. We were at a party and the (sugary) cookies came out and everyone was eating them and the baby started to cry. Well just as I gave the kid a cookie, my cousin took my picture (she's always taking pictures) and so that is my "grandma got caught face". Hahaha